According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, the Rays have third toughest schedule in April and early May. Of the Rays first 32 games, 19 are against teams that had a winning record in 2011 and only 16 will be at home.

The Rays will hit the ground running with a nice barrage of games against contending teams — three games at home against the Yankees, then three games at Detroit, then four games at Boston.

Yeah, that sounds like fun.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Matt Moore threw against yesterday…Also, in addition to Luke Scott delaying his start due to shoulder surgery, Sam Fuld won’t play in games right away as he continues to recover from a wrist injury. [TampaBay.com]

We have written about this before, but the Yankees have reemphasized that they will be lowering payroll. [ESPN]

Roger Mooney writes about how Joel Peralta transformed into one of the Rays’ bullpen aces. [TampaBay.com]